Ad Targets Teachers’ “Last In-First Out” Policy

The group Education Reform Now is out with this new 60-second ad today, calling on the state to end the “Last In-First Out” layoff policy for teachers in New York City.

This is a contentious issue between Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who hasn’t fully embraced the concept, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is calling on Albany to strip the policy to allow the city to lay off poor performing teachers instead of the good ones.

The theory around Albany is that Cuomo is staying clear of the fight in order to keep the powerful United Federation of Teachers, which oppose the changes, from hammering him on his budget cuts to the city schools. But Cuomo said yesterday he’s working with Bloomberg on the issue and that there are “reforms to be made.”

“The ‘Last In-First Out’ policy is bad for teachers, bad for schools and, most importantly, bad for kids,” said Education Reform Now president Joe Williams. “Reckless layoffs that aren’t based on a teacher’s effectiveness have the potential to destroy a school’s culture and derail all the progress that’s been made to improve student achievement. Our lawmakers can’t say they want to improve schools and protect great teachers on the one hand and still support this antiquated policy on the other.”